Which Method of Maglev Train Works Best?

Overview

Objectives/Goals The objective of my project was to build a magnetic levitated train, a working EMS system, and a rail gun system. Methods/Materials I used 44 1in neodymium magnets, 46 ½ inch neodymium, 4 1in circular neodymium magnets, twelve feet of six inch wide wood, 12 feet of 1 inch high wood lengths, 4 1in wide 8 feet lengths of aluminum, 4 1in wide 3 feet lengths of aluminum, 2 half square 8 feet lengths of aluminum, 4 4in wide 2 feet long lengths of wood, 4 3in wide 2 feet lengths of wood, 6 - 9 volt batteries, 4 Resistors, 3 Transistors, 1 Hall Effect Sensor, 2 Diodes, 1 Solenoid, 1 piece of breadboard Built the guide way and train, I put together the EMS drive circuit, then put that in the train, I took aluminum strips laid them out and electrified them and put my rail gun axle system on that, I tested all these out five times. Results My results were that the rail gun did the best; it accelerated the fastest, was stable and kept a quick speed. The 2 feet per second push was second best, the 1 foot per second push did third best, and the EMS system did the worst. Conclusions/Discussion My conclusions from my experiment are that the rail gun system worked better. The EMS system didn#t have the power to over come the friction on the sides of the guideway. But if I was able to scale up the rail gun it would need a lot of new rails and a lot of power, while the EMS system would take lower power. The pushes in large scale are out of the question, you would have to build a large pushing device, and what happens if the push isn#t strong enough? The train would stop in the middle of the track. I don#t think the sparks flying off the rails from the rail gun would be too safe either. So in a nut shell the rail gun and push do well in small scale, but not in large scale. My hypothesis is void, my data does not support it.

Competition history

• CSEF 2007 Electronics & Electromagnetics · Entry J0817

Resources

• CSEF project summary ↗

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